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BOSTON (CBS) – State Rep. Carlos Henriquez is scheduled to face his fellow members of the House Thursday with the opportunity to state his case why they should not expel him for misconduct after his conviction on two counts of assault for beating up a girlfriend.

And it sure looks like he’ll need to do more than play the victim himself.

That’s appeared to be the game plan since Henriquez was convicted last month, from his lawyer’s public emphasis on the race of the all-white jury that convicted him, to the rep’s own statement Wednesday that any contact between him and his friend was “consensual.”

What Henriquez has not explained, during a trial at which he declined to testify, through House Ethics Committee hearings in which members viewed photos of “severe brusing” on the victim, is how she got those bruises if not the way she swears under oath that she did.

While the length of the six-month jail sentence Henriquez got for his crime can certainly be debated, it’s hard to see how that undercuts the verdict of a jury – and a committee of his legislative peers – that he did in fact commit the crime.

And it’s pretty clear from the Governor’s repeated call for Henriquez’s resignation, and the anger of some domestic violence advocates over his defense tactics, that the desire for that violence to be punished transcends racial boundaries.

But the representative is due his process, more than a regular citizen would get.

We’ll be listening Thursday.

What he says had better be more persuasive than what he’s been saying.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.